DOCSLIB.ORG

How to Navigate Chord Changes by Austin Vickrey (Masterclass for Clearwater Jazz Holiday Master Sessions 4/22/21) Overview

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
How to Navigate Chord Changes by Austin Vickrey (Masterclass for Clearwater Jazz Holiday Master Sessions 4/22/21) Overview How to Navigate Chord Changes By Austin Vickrey (Masterclass for Clearwater Jazz Holiday Master Sessions 4/22/21) Overview • What are chord changes? • Chord basics: Construction, types/qualities • Chords & Scales and how they work together • Learning your chords • Approaches to improvising over chords • Arpeggios, scales, chord tones, guide tones, connecting notes, resolutions • Thinking outside the box: techniques and exercises to enhance and “spice up” your improvisation over chords What are “chord changes?” • The series of musical chords that make up the harmony to support the melody of a song or part of a song (solo section). • The word “changes” refers to the chord “progression,” the original term. In the jazz world, we call them changes because they typically change chord quality from one chord to the next as the song is played. (We will discuss what I mean by “quality” later.) • Most chord progressions in songs tend to repeat the series over and over for improvisors to play solos and melodies. • Chord changes in jazz can be any length. Most tunes we solo over have a form with a certain number of measures (8, 12, 16, 24, 32, etc.). What makes up a chord? • A “chord" is defined as three or more musical pitches (notes) sounding at the same time. • The sonority of a chord depends on how these pitches are specifically arranged or “stacked.” • Consonant chords - chords that sound “pleasing” to the ear • Dissonant chords - chords that do not sound “pleasing” to the ear Basic Common Chord Types • Triad - 3 note chord arranged in thirds • Lowest note - Root, middle note - 3rd, highest note - 5th. (C-E-G, D-F-A, etc.) • 6th chord - A triad with a 6th interval above the root • R, 3rd, 5th, 6th. (C-E-G-A, D-F-A-B, etc.) • 7th chord - 4 note chord arranged in thirds • R, 3rd, 5th, *7th (C-E-G-B, D-F-A-C, etc.) • Chords with extensions - extensions are 9th, 11th, and 13th above the root of the chord. *Also arranged in thirds, though sometimes these can appear in different combinations, altered, or omitted. (Discussed in chord qualities section) • 9th chord - C-E-G-B-D, 11th chord - C-E-G-B-D-F, 13th chord - C-E-G-B-D-F-A Other Chord Types • Cluster chord - Chords of 3 or more notes arranged closely together in intervals of less than a 3rd • Some of these can be interpreted as other chord types with the extensions (9,11,13/6) just closely voiced. • Suspended chord - Chord (major/minor triads, 7th chords) that omits the 3rd and replaces it with a 4th or a 2nd (9th). • Csus4 - C-F-G (R, 4th, 5th) • Csus2 - C-D-G (R, 2nd, 5th) • C9sus4 - C-G-Bb-D-F (R, 5th, 7th, 9th, 4th/11th*) *Can be voiced either way Other Chord Types • Slash chords - Chord where the bass note is indicated with a “/.” These can be inversions of chords that use chord tones, the bass note can be a non-chord tone or extension for more dissonance. Used a lot in modern sounding jazz tunes. • Cmaj7/E - E-C-G-B (3rd, Root, 5th, 7th) • C/F# - F#-C-E-G (#4, Root, 3rd, 5th) • Polychords - Two chords (typically triads) sounding at the same time. These are usually written as a fraction using a horizontal line as opposed to a forward slash line. Used in more advanced or modern sounding tunes. • C | D - Dmaj triad on bottom, Cmaj triad on top. D-F#-A | C-E-G Chord Qualities • Quality refers to the specific intervals between the notes of a given chord. *If you’re not familiar with intervals, qualities, or some of these terms, visit www.musictheory.net for a crash course.* • Triad qualities - Major, minor, augmented, diminished • 7th chord qualities - Major7, minor7, dominant7, half-diminished7, diminished7 • Advanced qualities - Min/Maj7, Aug/Maj7, Dom7/ Aug, Altered Dom7 Chords & Scales: How they work together • Chords typically come from extracting notes from scales • THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING! • Chords IMPLY scales - Cmaj7 implies the use of the C major scale. • It’s useful to be able to think of the scale that is implied by a chord, but be careful not to fall into the trap of equating the two. • Just because I see a Cmaj7 does not mean that I can only play the tones of the C major scale…(Aebersold syndrome) Learning Your Chords • To me, if you want to REALLY understand chord changes, it is essential that you learn to play and memorize as many chords as possible, starting with the basic types of chords • Beginner - Triads and all qualities, 7th chords and the 5 basic qualities • Intermediate - Chords with extensions, altered extensions (flat or sharp) • Advanced - Specialty and modern chord sounds Learning Your Chords • Start by learning chords on your instrument by arpeggiating them. (Chordal instruments can just play the chord and arpeggiate) • If you play a non-chordal instrument, also learn these chords on the piano. • Practice these chords on the full range of your instrument. • MEMORIZE them as quickly as possible. Ways to Practice Chords • Ideally we want to learn all of our chords in all keys. This will take TIME, PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE, and CONSISTENCY • Chromatically - Up and Down in half steps • Up and down in whole steps - 6 at a time • *Cycle of 4ths • *Most common chord movement in jazz tunes • Any other ways you can think of them! (Maj 3rds, min 3rds, etc. Learn about intervals so you know how to do this.) Now that you know your chords, what now?! • Time to start working on improvising over chords! • Find friends to jam with or purchase a chord app. My favorite is iReal Pro ($10-$12). Available on mobile devices in desktop computers. • Brief demo of iReal pro app Approaches to Improvising Over Chord Changes • 1) Practice ONE CHORD TYPE/QUALITY for a long time… • Really HEAR the notes in the chord. You can really challenge yourself to see if you can “sing” the chord tone. Singing can reinforce your ear on what that chord tone sounds like. • I like to play one note with a varying rhythm so I can get that sound of that note in my head while hearing the chord you are working with. • Practice playing JUST THE CHORD TONES. (R, 3, 5, 7) Improvise simple rhythms with chord tones only (arpeggios). For beginners, start with triads. More intermediate/advanced players can go right to 7th chords or extensions. • Try not to be too concerned about what you are playing. Focus on the sound of the notes against the chord. Approaches to Improvising Over Chord Changes • 2) Find the scale associated with the chord • Play the scale up and down with the one chord you’re working on • Start on different scale degrees • Arpeggiate the scale (diatonic chords) • Experiment with holding tones of the associated scale. Get to know which sound “good” and which sound not so good. Example: On major 7th chords, the 4th degree of the major scale is not ideal because it clashes with the 3rd, the tone that indicates the quality of major. • Don’t get too hung up on scales here. There is a hidden trap that if you always play implied scales over chords, that’s all you begin to hear. There are more interesting ways to improvise and conceptualize. :) Approaches to Improvising Over Chord Changes • 3) Begin practicing on moving from one chord to another • Pull up a simple song that has easy chord changes or changes that don’t vary a lot. “So What,” “Midnight Voyage,” “Little Sunflower,” etc. • Practice moving from one chord tone to another chord tone RIGHT WHEN THE CHORD CHANGES. Doing this slowly and repeatedly will help you internalize the chord changes. • Use the chord tones of each chord to guide you. Smooth note movement between chords promotes good “voice leading” (this makes you sound like you know what you’re doing :)) Approaches to Improvising Over Chord Changes • 4) Guide Tones - Most jazz tunes have a LOT of “functional harmony.” Understanding how guide tones work will help you create more smooth and pleasant sounding lines. • YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A THEORY GENIUS TO IMPROVISE! (But some theory knowledge helps…) • Check out www.musictheory.com for a great overview of basic functional harmony. You can practice your theory chops too! It’s free! • Another good source is www.learnjazzstandards.com Approaches to Improvising Over Chord Changes • Crash course in guide tones • In a typical ii-V-I progression, 3rds and 7ths are your guide tones. They “guide” you to the smoothest way to move from chord to chord. • 3rd of the ii chord - 7th of the V chord - 3rd of the I chord (Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7: F - F - E) • 7th of the ii chord - 3rd of the V chord - 7th of the I chord (Same progression: C - B - B) Approaches to Improvising Over Chord Changes • 5) Connecting notes from chord to chord • Practice creating lines where you connect the last part of the chord you’re in to the chord you’re moving to. • Begin by trying to connect to a chord tone: R, 3, 5, or 7. As you get better at this, you can connect to extensions and other “colorful” tones. • Experiment: Play anything that comes to your head for one chord but when you are about to change to the next chord, practice landing on a chord tone of the next chord. • When starting, use the KISS method: Keep It Simple, Silly! Start slowly! We crawl before we walk, we walk before we run.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Evolution of Ornette Coleman's Music And
    DANCING IN HIS HEAD: THE EVOLUTION OF ORNETTE COLEMAN’S MUSIC AND COMPOSITIONAL PHILOSOPHY by Nathan A. Frink B.A. Nazareth College of Rochester, 2009 M.A. University of Pittsburgh, 2012 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2016 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Nathan A. Frink It was defended on November 16, 2015 and approved by Lawrence Glasco, PhD, Professor, History Adriana Helbig, PhD, Associate Professor, Music Matthew Rosenblum, PhD, Professor, Music Dissertation Advisor: Eric Moe, PhD, Professor, Music ii DANCING IN HIS HEAD: THE EVOLUTION OF ORNETTE COLEMAN’S MUSIC AND COMPOSITIONAL PHILOSOPHY Nathan A. Frink, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2016 Copyright © by Nathan A. Frink 2016 iii DANCING IN HIS HEAD: THE EVOLUTION OF ORNETTE COLEMAN’S MUSIC AND COMPOSITIONAL PHILOSOPHY Nathan A. Frink, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2016 Ornette Coleman (1930-2015) is frequently referred to as not only a great visionary in jazz music but as also the father of the jazz avant-garde movement. As such, his work has been a topic of discussion for nearly five decades among jazz theorists, musicians, scholars and aficionados. While this music was once controversial and divisive, it eventually found a wealth of supporters within the artistic community and has been incorporated into the jazz narrative and canon. Coleman’s musical practices found their greatest acceptance among the following generations of improvisers who embraced the message of “free jazz” as a natural evolution in style.
    [Show full text]
  • C Hapter E Ight
    P LAYING “O UTSIDE” C HAPTER E IGHT Playing “Outside” ========& = Q Sequences Q Playing a Half Step Away Q Playing a Tritone Away Q Playing Scales to Get Outside Q Some Piano Stuff Q The Chromatic Scale Q Be Brave, Go Ahead and Play Outside ne reason that musicians such as Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, David Liebman, and Mulgrew Miller are greatly admired is that Othey not only have mastered the art of playing changes, but also know how to play “outside” the changes. Playing “outside” on chord changes can mean several different things, including playing notes that aren’t in the chord, stretching the length of one chord into another, or playing something recognizable but in a different key. It can also mean playing “free,” or atonal, with no chord structure at all. Musicians such as Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor fall into this category, and their music is “outside” the scope of this book. Bear in mind that what’s considered outside is subjective and changeable. What you hear as “outside” someone else will hear as “inside,” and vice versa. Bird was considered “out” by many musicians in the 1940s, as was Coltrane in the 1960s. Quite a few musicians still hear Coltrane’s last few recordings as being “out.” Cecil Taylor has been recording for about 40 years, and is still considered “out” by many musicians. 183 C HAPTER E IGHT Many of the best examples of “outside” playing are really bitonality, or two tonalities at the same time.1 The pianist or guitarist may be ‘comping in one key, while the soloist goes outside and plays in another.
    [Show full text]
  • Jazz Piano Basics Handout WIBC17
    JAZZ PIANO BASICS - DAN DAVEY DAN DAVEY JAZZ PIANO BASICS JAZZ PIANO BASICS - DAN DAVEY LEAD YOUR PIANIST ACROSS THE THRESHOLD Your pianists need YOUR help in rehearsal! Don’t expect private teachers to give them everything they need to be successful in YOUR ensemble on YOUR timeline. You need to have an understanding of the role of the piano and how to communicate voicings, comping, style, and more! Joining the jazz band as a pianist (or any other rhythm section instrument) is much different than joining as a horn player. The “concert band notes” look shockingly similar to the “jazz band notes” on the page. The horn player has to learn style and listening responsibilities. The music you hand your pianist looks entirely different and can be very overwhelming unless you know how to help them. BASIC FOUR-NOTE CHORD SYMBOLS Chord tones are numbered based on an 8-note scale using scale degrees 1 (Root), 3, 5, & 7. The following formulas are used to modify a major scale/arpeggio. Basic Symbols: • Major 7th: 1 3 5 7 Cmaj7, Cma7, CM7, C 7 • Dominant 7th: 1 3 5 b7 C7 • Minor 7th: 1 b3 5 b7 Cmin7, Cmi7, Cm7, C-7 • Half-Diminished: 1 b3 b5 b7 C7, C, Cmin7(b5), Cmi7(b5), Cm7(b5), C-7(b5), C-7(-5) • Diminished 7th: 1 b3 b5 bb7 Co7 • Minor-major 7th: 1 b3 5 7 Cmin(maj7), C-( 7) See the pattern of how each chord adds one flat to create the next. CŒ„Š7 C7 C‹7 C‹7(b5) 4 7 b7 4 w 5 bw 5 bw bw & w 3 w 3 b w bb w w Root w Root w w CŒ„Š7 C7 C‹7 C‹7(b5) b7 b7 4 5 b5 w bw bw bw & 4 w w b w b3 bb w b3 w w w Root w Root (Same as half-diminished chord) Note: All of this may be applied to your guitarist as well! JAZZ PIANO BASICS - DAN DAVEY WHAT ARE TENSIONS/EXTENSIONS? Tensions are non chord tones that are added to a chord to change the color/texture of the chord.
    [Show full text]
  • Autumn Leaves" in the 1960S
    Outside Forces: "Autumn Leaves" in the 1960s By Keith Waters Is there a problem of form in the jazz tradition? Does the reliance upon repeated 32-bar frameworks create an unavoidable formal, harmonic, and metric redundancy? How do jazz improvisers transcend or evade this cyclic regularity? These are crucial questions. Jazz players have extended privilege to the 32-bar AABA and ABAC song form (along with 12-bar blues structures) since at least the 1930s, when the 32-bar song form replaced the 16-bar sectional forms of ragtime and early jazz. Yet repeated cycles of thirty-two bars result in a hypermetric consistency on several levels: single measures group into four-measure units, which then combine into eight measure sections; the four eight-measure sections comprise the 32-bar form, which becomes repeated, normally for the duration of the composition.! In the Western European tradition (with the occasional exception of the theme and variations genre and dance forms) form is typically not generated by regularly repeating structures, structures that are consistently built from measure groups of 4, 8, 16, and 32 bars. Yet this formal model, with its foursquare regularity and its repeated harmonic and metric organization, has been one of the primary vehicles for jazz improvisers and composers. Historically, jazz players have kept the structure, merely renovating it peri­ odically through stylistic change. Thus, while stylistic development and evolution has rapidly taken place in the area of instrumental technique, harmony, and rhythm, the domain ofform has remained relatively static.2 The manner in which improvisers overcome the limitations of a peri­ odic structure varies, and players have developed a variety of strategies to mask this regularity.
    [Show full text]
  • The Coordinative Structure of Polyrhythmic Performance and Korte’S Third Law
    The Coordinative Structure of Polyrhythmic Performance and Korte’s Third Law THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Emanuele Rizzi Graduate Program in Psychology The Ohio State University 2015 Master's Examination Committee: Dr. Richard Jagacinski, Advisor Dr. Alex Petrov Dr. Steven Lavender Copyrighted by Emanuele Rizzi 2015 Abstract Previous research examining the performance of bimanual polyrhythmic tapping has utilized temporal covariance analysis to determine the interdependence of limbs being coordinated. The prevailing finding is that the perceptual-motor system couples the actions of the left and right hand into a dependent or integrated unit, with one notable exception in a study by Krampe et al. (2000). This study found that concert level pianists performing a 4:3 bimanual polyrhythm could exhibit relatively independent (i.e. parallel) performance between the two hands. In other coordination experiments parallel performance between the upper and lower body was achieved fairly regularly in the timing structure of moderately skilled golfers during their swing (Jagacinski et al., 2011). Combining aspects of these previous works, we tested the effects of speed on the coordinative structure of skilled drummers’ hands and right foot while performing a 4:3:2 polyrhythm. All participants showed parallel performance between one or more limb pairs in both 3-limb polyrhythmic conditions and bimanual polyrhythmic conditions. Given that participants were coordinating both of their hands and their foot, they exhibited coordinative structures that mixed both integration and parallelism between limb pairs. Faster performance speed resulted in more parallel performance as well as more variable performance.
    [Show full text]
  • A Markov Chain Interpretation of Some Arpeggios in Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, 1St Movement
    A Markov Chain Interpretation of some Arpeggios in Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, 1st Movement Hisashi Kobayashi1 May 20, 2019 Abstract: We present a Markov chain interpretation of some arpeggios in the first movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, which is composed in a ternary form, i.e., A-B-A’ form. In Section II, we analyze the arpeggios of Part A. Expert pianists may wish to skip this section. Our analysis, however, should have a pedagogic value to novice pianists, including this author, in helping them identify the chords and memorize this famous sonata more easily. In Section III, we propose to apply a Markov chain representations of the main arpeggios in section B. We show that the passages of the 32nd through 37th measures, which are arpeggiated from D# diminished 7th, C# minor, C# diminished 7th, and F# diminished 7th chords, respectively, can be concisely presented in terms of “state transition diagrams,” often used for analysis of a Markov chain in probability theory [4]. This representation leads to simple algorithmic descriptions of the arpeggios. Perhaps this simplicity is a key to the beauty of this part of the sonata. In Section IV, we present harmonic analysis for Part A’. Although there are a few entirely new passages, a large portion of Part A’ is a recapitulation of the passages of Part A, either as straightforward repetitions or in transposed forms. We hope that our chord analysis will be of some value to mathematically inclined pianists, and that the transition diagram representation will provoke interest among music theorists, possibly as a new tool to augment such existing tools as the Schenkerian graph and notation [5,6,7].
    [Show full text]
  • Wednesday Slide Conference 2008-2009
    PROCEEDINGS DEPARTMENT OF VETERINARY PATHOLOGY WEDNESDAY SLIDE CONFERENCE 2008-2009 ARMED FORCES INSTITUTE OF PATHOLOGY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20306-6000 2009 ML2009 Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Department of Veterinary Pathology WEDNESDAY SLIDE CONFERENCE 2008-2009 100 Cases 100 Histopathology Slides 249 Images PROCEEDINGS PREPARED BY: Todd Bell, DVM Chief Editor: Todd O. Johnson, DVM, Diplomate ACVP Copy Editor: Sean Hahn Layout and Copy Editor: Fran Card WSC Online Management and Design Scott Shaffer ARMED FORCES INSTITUTE OF PATHOLOGY Washington, D.C. 20306-6000 2009 ML2009 i PREFACE The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Department of Veterinary Pathology has conducted a weekly slide conference during the resident training year since 12 November 1953. This ever- changing educational endeavor has evolved into the annual Wednesday Slide Conference program in which cases are presented on 25 Wednesdays throughout the academic year and distributed to 135 contributing military and civilian institutions from around the world. Many of these institutions provide structured veterinary pathology resident training programs. During the course of the training year, histopathology slides, digital images, and histories from selected cases are distributed to the participating institutions and to the Department of Veterinary Pathology at the AFIP. Following the conferences, the case diagnoses, comments, and reference listings are posted online to all participants. This study set has been assembled in an effort to make Wednesday Slide Conference materials available to a wider circle of interested pathologists and scientists, and to further the education of veterinary pathologists and residents-in-training. The number of histopathology slides that can be reproduced from smaller lesions requires us to limit the number of participating institutions.
    [Show full text]
  • Basic Chord Construction
    Part 1: Starting to Improvise back to contents Basic Chord Construction8 • Chord Roots • Two and Three Note Chords (Diad And Triads) • Triad Types • Major Scale-Tone Tertian Triads • Open-Position Triads from Major Scales • Making Major Chords Movable ©1998-2013 Jim Gleason. All Rights Reserved. page 236 Basic Chord Construction Part 1: Starting to Improvise back to contents CHORD ROOTS A chord root is the letter name for a chord. The letter may be followed by a flat or sharp which alters the letter. Sharps (“C ” is “C sharp”) indicate a note is one fret higher (toward the guitar body). Flats indicate a note is one #fret lower (“D ” is “D flat”). Naturals ((“C ” is “C natural”) cancel previously indicated sharps or flats and bring a bnote back to its unaltered pitch.n TWO AND THREE-NOTE CHORDS Chords are combinations of two or more notes played at once. Diads or Intervals: Two-Note Chords Two note chords are called diads. Two notes played at once are commonly named as intervals, such as the combination of the notes C and E (“E” above “C”) being called a third (since it is three tones in the C major scale from “C” up to “E” inclusively. There are no formal names for diads as chords, so we use interval names. Triads: Three-Note chords Three-note chords are calledtriads . Any note of a triad may be repeated in the chord, so a triad may be played as a five note chord with three different notes, repeating two of the notes. By default, they use every-other scale tone, each using some version of numbered tones “1”, “3” and “5”.
    [Show full text]
  • Chord-Scale Networks in the Music and Improvisations of Wayne Shorter
    Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic Volume 8 Issue 1 Article 7 April 2018 Chord-Scale Networks in the Music and Improvisations of Wayne Shorter Garrett Michaelsen University of Massachusetts, Lowell, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/gamut Recommended Citation Michaelsen, Garrett (2018) "Chord-Scale Networks in the Music and Improvisations of Wayne Shorter," Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic: Vol. 8 : Iss. 1 , Article 7. Available at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/gamut/vol8/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Volunteer, Open Access, Library Journals (VOL Journals), published in partnership with The University of Tennessee (UT) University Libraries. This article has been accepted for inclusion in Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic by an authorized editor. For more information, please visit https://trace.tennessee.edu/gamut. CHORD-SCALE NETWORKS IN THE MUSIC AND IMPROVISATIONS OF WAYNE SHORTER GARRETT MICHAELSEN ayne Shorter’s tune “E.S.P.,” first recorded on Miles Davis’s 1965 album of the same Wname , presents a number of fascinating challenges to harmonic analysis. Example 1 gives the tune’s lead sheet, which shows its melody and chord changes. In the first eight-bar phrase, the harmony moves at a slow, two-bar pace, sliding between chords with roots on E, F, and E beneath a repeating fourths-based melody that contracts to an A4–F4 major third in the last two bars. Shorter’s melody quite often emphasizes diatonic and chromatic ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths against the passing harmonies, thereby underscoring the importance of those extensions to the chords.
    [Show full text]
  • West African Polyrhythm: Culture, Theory, and Representation1 Michael Frishkopf2 Department of Music, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
    SHS Web of Conferences 102, 05001 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202110205001 ETLTC2021 West African Polyrhythm: 1 culture, theory, and representation Michael Frishkopf2 Department of Music, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Abstract. In this paper I explicate polyrhythm in the context of traditional West African music, framing it within a more general theory of polyrhythm and polymeter, then compare three approaches for the visual representation of both. In contrast to their analytical separation in Western theory and practice, traditional West African music features integral connections among all the expressive arts (music, poetry, dance, and drama), and the unity of rhythm and melody (what Nzewi calls “melo-rhythm”). Focusing on the Ewe people of south-eastern Ghana, I introduce the multi-art performance type called AgbeKor, highlighting its poly-melo-rhythms, and representing them in three notational systems: the well-known but culturally biased Western notation; a more neutral tabular notation, widely used in ethnomusicology but more limited in its representation of structure; and a context-free recursive grammar of my own devising, which concisely summarizes structure, at the possible cost of readability. Examples are presented, and the strengths and drawbacks of each system are assessed. While undoubtedly useful, visual representations cannot replace audio- visual recordings, much less the experience of participation in a live performance. 1 West African music as a holistic poly-kino-melo-rhythmic socio-cultural phenomenon Traditional West African music presents complex rhythmic and metric structures, through song, dance, and instrumental music – particularly (though by no means limited to) percussion music. This situation prevails, in particular, in Ghana cf [1, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Jazz Studies (JAZZ) 1
    Jazz Studies (JAZZ) 1 JAZZ 19900 Jazz Repertoire and Pedagogy (NLA) JAZZ STUDIES (JAZZ) Students meet weekly as a group with their jazz study teacher(s) to perform repertoire and discuss performance technique and pedagogy. JAZZ 16100 Survey of Jazz History (LA) Pass/Fail only. (F,S) A one-semester course for non-music majors and music majors. The 0.5 Credit study of jazz history from 1890 to the present, with much required JAZZ 20000 Jazz Theory and Aural Training I (LA) listening and reading outside class. Origins, blues, New Orleans Dixieland, Introduces and vigorously drills jazz chords and chord symbol notation, Chicago Dixieland, ragtime, boogie woogie, swing, bebop, cool, funky, and modes, scales, chord-scale relationships, and jazz forms. Activities eclectic era (i.e., free jazz, third stream, contemporary, big bands, jazz- will include transcribing and performing; students will be required to rock fusion, advancements in improvisation, and electronics). This course bring their instruments to each class. Prerequisites: MUTH 10100 or is required for jazz studies majors and may be used as a music elective MUTH 10101. (F-S-B) for other bachelor of music degrees. (F) Attributes: FA Attributes: 3B, ADCH, ADSE, FA, H 1 Credit 2 Credits JAZZ 20100 Jazz Theory and Aural Training II (LA) JAZZ 16500 Basic Music Calligraphy (NLA) Introduces and vigorously drills advanced jazz chords and chord Use of the copying pen; laying out the work for easy page turns and symbol notation, modes, scales, chord-scale relationships, and jazz readability; copying parts from both concert and transposed scores; forms. Activities will include transcribing and performing; students writing piano parts; correcting arranger's or composer's mistakes; special will be required to bring their instruments to each class.
    [Show full text]
  • Piano Lessons Book V2.Pdf
    Learn & Master Piano Table of Contents SESSIONS PAGE SESSIONS PAGE Session 1 – First Things First 6 Session 15 – Pretty Chords 57 Finding the Notes on the Keyboard Major 7th Chords, Sixteenth Notes Session 2 – Major Progress 8 Session 16 – The Dominant Sound 61 Major Chords, Notes on the Treble Clef Dominant 7th Chords, Left-Hand Triads, D Major Scale Session 3 – Scaling the Ivories 11 Session 17 – Gettin’ the Blues 65 C Major Scale, Scale Intervals, Chord Intervals The 12-Bar Blues Form, Syncopated Rhythms Session 4 – Left Hand & Right Foot 14 Session 18 – Boogie-Woogie & Bending the Keys 69 Bass Clef Notes, Sustain Pedal Boogie-Woogie Bass Line, Grace Notes Session 5 – Minor Adjustments 17 Session 19 – Minor Details 72 Minor Chords and How They Work Minor 7th Chords Session 6 – Upside Down Chords 21 Session 20 – The Left Hand as a Bass Player 76 Chord Inversions, Reading Rhythms Left-Hand Bass Lines Session 7 – The Piano as a Singer 25 Session 21 – The Art of Ostinato 80 Playing Lyrically, Reading Rests in Music Ostinato, Suspended Chords Session 8 – Black is Beautiful 29 Session 22 – Harmonizing 84 Learning the Notes on the Black Keys Harmony, Augmented Chords Session 9 – Black Magic 33 Session 23 – Modern Pop Piano 87 More Work with Black Keys, The Minor Scale Major 2 Chords Session 10 – Making the Connection 37 Session 24 – Walkin’ the Blues & Shakin’ the Keys 90 Inversions, Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns Sixth Chords, Walking Bass Lines, The Blues Scale, Tremolo Session 11 – Let it Be 42 Session 25 – Ragtime, Stride, & Diminished
    [Show full text]